Evidently, the over-sized flasher has enough attraction to convince a bottom-hugging trout up off the bottom to investigate and then the combination of the flashy bait-head and the scent trail of the herring strip is enough to fire up their appetite.

CHINOOK SALMON
The shining star on the Great Lakes for the past several years has been the bountiful numbers of king, aka chinook salmon, which have been caught. Once the water temperature spikes above the middle 40s in the spring, kings start figuring into the daily catch. Skippers hoping to mix some kings into their daily catch target the same locations where cohos are found, but while the cohos tend to stay close to the surface, the chinooks prefer to be deeper.

A good rule of thumb is to put lures into the bottom half of the water column to tempt kings. If you are in 30 feet of water, than place your lures 15 feet and deeper. If you are in 50 feet of water, expect the bites to come deeper than 25 feet.

Kings are suckers for bait rigs as described for lake trout. If there's a difference, it's that kings would rather belt a herring strip being pulled deep by a diving planer than one run off a downrigger -- though both systems work. It's probably the fact the planer pulls the rig wide and quite a way behind the stern of the boat, as well as down into the strike zone that turns the trick for divers.

Don't be disturbed by recent announcements that another 25 percent reduction in chinook plantings is slated for Lake Michigan. Those reduced stockings won't be evident for another year or more, if they are noticeable at all.

The diminished supply of chinooks from the hatcheries is the result of an almost over-abundant supply of wild-spawned kings coming from Lake Michigan's tributaries. Why use our license and stamp fees to produce fish that Mother Nature is supplying for free?

Declining numbers of alewives for the past few years have been "shrinking" Lake Michigan's kings. Two summers ago, a 20-pounder was a rare specimen. That trend seemed to reverse itself last summer with more 20-pounders than the year before and about a 2-pound increase on the average size of a mature chinook. If that trend continues into 2007, it will mean more fun for everyone.

YELLOW PERCH
Devastated by commercial nets in the early 1990s and plagued by poor spawns, some people predicted that yellow perch would never come back in Lake Michigan. While not back to historic population levels, perch stocks have rebounded. There are several year-classes evident, attesting to better spawns in recent years.